Life of The Prophet Part 3 10 th to 13 th Year Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) Years Old January 15, 2011 Intermediate Religion By: Sarah Kassim

Suffering Caused By the 3 YR Seige Food was scarce Children cried and filled Valley with screams of hunger and misery The old became very weak It was weather made it worse Clothes became ragged Social contact was missed With ALL of this, The Muslims still concentrated on their prayers and learned more from The Prophet They grew stronger in Faith and weakened by the suffering

End of Siege By the 3 rd Yr, the Muslims were still very patient despite all of the suffering they incurred. Quraish and other disbelievers started to feel guilty and shame. They saw that the Muslims were growing stronger in faith. During the last few months of the siege, the Muslims had to eat the leaves of the trees since there was no food.

Guards Took Action The guards could not witness this anymore, so they started to soften Quraish and others in Mecca about the horrible suffering and intolerable conditions of the Muslims. Food started smuggled Finally the guilt-ridden souls took pity When they went to tear the document that had declared the siege, they found that it was all eaten by termites, except for the words:

“IN YOUR NAME, O LORD”

The Years of Sorrow Abu Talib (The Prophet’s Uncle) was 77 yrs old at the start of the siege, the lack of food, poor nourishment and living in the extremely poor conditions was to much to handle. At age 80, a few months after the siege, he became terminally ill…and soon died. Khadija, the Prophet’s wife for 25 yrs, suffering severely the 3 long yrs of the siege made her become weak, sick and ill. Khadija passed away at age 65. This was the one of the MOST difficult time the Prophet went through…(their love, support and kindness was essential to Him…) The Prophet grieved a great deal for them, dressed in mourned clothes and call this year the Year of Sorrow.

Act of Evil As The Prophet was passing through the street in Mecca, one of Quraish’s pagans wanted to hurt the Prophet just for fun. He threw mud and dirt at the Prophet’s face and clothes. The Prophet did not say anything when this happened, instead He just looked at the man calmly and with a meaningful look and went home. When Fatima (as) saw this she thought “How could they, how could they”, her eyes full of tear… The Prophet replies; “Don’t cry my daughter, Allah will protect your father,”

The Prophet at 50 The Prophet was 50 yrs now, an idea occurred to him to deliver the Islamic message to a different town. He thought the new town hope as well as less abuse than Mecca. Since the death of Abu Talib, the tension in Mecca was becoming intorlerable.

The Town of Taif was Chosen The Prophet 60 mile long journey on foot to a town named Taif. He was accompanied by Zaid On their way they stopped at two places, where the Prophet preached Islam to two different tribes. Unfortunately they were different than the Meccans and they refused to listen. They continued their journey until they reached a Big Temple in Taif. There, there was a idol in the center named Al-Lat.

The People of Taif The Prophet stood in the Temple and gave a speech about the belief in Allah (swt) and His teachings and also told them about the new religion called Islam. The people listened a a short while until the leader of the predominant tribe call Benu Thaqif interrupted. Not only was he disruptive, but also disturbingly noisy. The people of Taif started to lose interest and started talking about the new man from Mecca who degraded their idol, Al-Lat.

Unsuccessful Journey/Cruel Experience The trip of Taif was a big disappointment. The Prophet was not welcomed by the leader of Benu Thaqif. As the Prophet and Zaid were going back to Mecca, the slaves and children of Taif were encouraged to chase them, curse at them and throw stones at them. The Prophet got bruised, cut, blood poured from his cuts, his feet got swollen, and became sore. They were chased for a distance of 3 miles, and showered with stones. Before they could reach a plantation nearby safely, the Prophet collapsed to the ground, his strength could no longer hold, he fainted. At that point they were left alone.

Prophet Prays With the feeling of dejection, the Prophet looked at the sky, lifted his hands and prayed:

What a Magnificent Person Although the Prophet was cut, hurt exhausted he did not get angry with the people who caused all of this. He simply regarded them as IGNORANT PEOPLE. This is an example that showed that the Prophet was above all men, the ultimate perfection of mankind.

The Christian Slave The Prophet felt better after he prayed. He was all cleaned and washed when a plate of grapes was brought to him. It was a Christian slave named Addas. He was impressed when he heard the Prophet praying. He questioned the Prophet about Allah (swt) and the message. Addas was extremely impressed and sad to see and hear about what happened to him at Taif. Addas decided to become Muslim, so the shahaada was declared.